I am a Black Female Democrat. And I’ve been watching the Democratic primaries with avid interest. When it was confirmed that Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were actively seeking the nomination, my response was IT IS ABOUT FUCKING TIME.

Seriously. In a melting pot such as this, in a supposedly progressive country as this, why the hell did it take so long for there to be two viable candidates that were female or Black? I think I danced around my room a bit when the news was confirmed.

But then, I did a bit of research…and while the women that we know of that ran either for the Presidency or on a ticket (Shirley Chisholm and Carol Mosley Braun, to name a couple) were relatively famous, there were actually 35 other women that have run. Yeah. For real. Jump over here and check out twelve other women who wanted to join the big dance. And no, Senator Obama isn’t the first Black man to run. Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes, and Al Sharpton all ran. So then, what makes this election so historical?

This year, a woman and a Black man actually had a CHANCE.

Now, I don’t mean chance as in them having the time or that discrimination prevented it (at least, not this time). I mean that America finally has the mindset to rally against the White male archetypal president. We could also be sick of the president we currently have (FN Rant: My CAR KEYS would make a better president than we have now. And I don’t have a car. End rant.) and want some relief from the foolishness the current administration has lavished upon the American people since Bush first stole the election. Yeah. I said it. And I meant it. (/bitter Former Floridian) And while I am a cynic and die-hard conspiracy theorist, I am excited to be able to witness the time where a woman and a Black man can not only just run, but be real viable candidates for president.

When I was a little girl, I used to tell people I want to go to law school, become a lawyer, open my own practice, and be the first Black woman president. Folks would smile and tell me to aim for the stars. And while that dream hasn’t died, I am excited and hopeful that by the time I’m old enough to run for President (I’m 23 now), that the first Black woman president title will be taken. In fact, my hope would be that by the time I’m able to run, we won’t have to worry about breaking gender or racial boundaries. It’ll simply be another election. That will be when we know we’ve made true progress in America.

And as for the Democratic Primaries dragging out for so long? While I am an Obama supporter, I would genuinely been happy with either senator. But I wanted there to be a daggone nominee already! So, once I saw the results of last night’s primaries, this song popped in my head:

I just want it to be over. This presidency…I just want it to be over. And with the quality of these candidates…we’ll have something wonderful to look forward to.

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8 Responses to “On The Democratic Primaries”

I’m Canadian, so my opinion about your election means little — but I am SO happy Obama won, even while being a little sad for Hillary. But when I read “Dreams of My Father”, I was so blown away by Obama’s analysis and his compassion and his willingness to explore and his theoretical frameworks that I’d happily elect him to anything.
I have to agree that your Fictional Car Keys would be a better President than Bush, and I’ve never met your car keys. That made me laugh out loud.

I read his book to and he is truly an amazing person
I have to say I am a women and I was not truly inspired by Hillary but I did respect her
key world did she has lost my respect over 2008 between her to harsh world at Obama her crying like a baby when she didn’t win,to her red phone add
Obama has head his head high took every awful world she has tosed at him and has really proved he could lead the USA he could lead the world

It’s so good to hear from someone else who’s impressed by the quality of both candidates, and isn’t down on one or the other. I feel the same way. When I watched the debates I thought “It’s got to be Obama or Clinton – and they’re the two best candidates I’ve seen since I started voting.” I’d happily vote for either of them, and the fact that Obama is black and Clinton is a woman is just icing on the cake.

The only thing better than having Obama and Hillary as potential nominee is if we’d had a BLACK WOMAN candidate. I said as much (to my hubby) when I first found out that it was going to be between Obama and Hillary.

Speaking of The Hubster, he told me once that he’d read somewhere that there was speculation that they might end up running together (whoever lost the nomination would be the running-mate). Now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, but how freaking cool would that be? A black man and a woman running the country together? Awesome idea.

Aww, thank y’all. My Fictional Car Keys are made of the awesome. And they know how to pronounce “nuclear”!

And yes, nuckingfutz, there was indeed speculation about Hillary possibly being the running mate. I saw a story on Yahoo! News with the list of potential VPs. However, the current consensus is that she’s such a leader she wouldn’t be content as VP. The potential is still there, though. But trust me, I’ve been about the Obama/Clinton ticket from the get-go. I really might dance around the room if it does happen.